Thank you Sony for making me eat my words.
Now, I didn't get to watch Microsoft or Nintendo's press conferences, but I don't even care. Sony has officially won E3 in my eyes. Shawn Layden took the stage at the beginning of the conference and made it incredible as always.
Now, I didn't get to watch Microsoft or Nintendo's press conferences, but I don't even care. Sony has officially won E3 in my eyes. Shawn Layden took the stage at the beginning of the conference and made it incredible as always.
Beginning Sony's press conference was the long awaited The Last Guardian, which is Team Ico's third game for PlayStation consoles after Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. This game has been a mystery since it was revealed in 2009, and subsequently (and obviously) Team Ico has been so in depth with it they skipped a console generation. The trailer looked amazing and the soundtrack is one I will definitely buy.
SHUHEI!!!! <---made a brief appearance after the gameplay footage.
After the Last Guardian, Guerrilla Games introduced their new IP Horizon: Zero Dawn. This game looks like Assassin's Creed meets 10,000 B.C. meets Terminator where you fight gigantic robotic animals (it starts with the HoloLens...beware). The character in the trailer looks like Ygritte from George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones and knows her way around a bow and arrow just as well. I'm anxious to see more of this game.
Hitman was revealed as well, with a dubstep heavy trailer to go along with it. For PlayStation 4 owners, you get exclusive beta access for pre-ordering as well as six exclusive contracts throughout the game's life cycle. It looks really good, but I'm assuming that's just because it was a reveal trailer with no gameplay. Hitman is made by SquareEnix, so it's probably actually going to look really good.
Some more Street Fighter V was shown and all I have to say is:
Such Haduken
Much Charlie (GASP!!)
So Bison...woooooow.
Seriously, this game looks awesome. The only thing I could possibly complain about is that it looks an awful lot like Street Fighter IV. Beta access starts July 23rd.
Hello Games gave us just a little bit more of their upcoming mega-gigantic-epic space exploration game "No Man's Sky." Diving further into its incredible (and damn near impossible sounding) size and beautiful graphics. When you view them map, every little white blip on your screen is a Sun, and every Sun has planets around it for you to discover. Some of these planets may never be discovered by gamers. When flying around outside planet's atmospheres you may come across some dog fights in outer space, in which you can choose sides. Almost everything else about this game is a mystery to me.
The one random game that I couldn't quite wrap my head around was Media Molecule's "Dream". The game takes place in an open "Dreamiverse," where you can literally create anything you want to, from your dreams to, if you dare, your nightmares. The song in the trailer was definitely one of the most majestic of the night.
Bungie came out with some Destiny news, revealing that their next expansion, The Taken King, is coming in the near future. With the new expansion players will get the usual new gear and new multiplayer maps. The expansion focuses on (I think) Crotas' father on a revenge fueled quest to kill his son's murderer. It looks a lot more shiny and new than the previous expansions. Stay tuned for more!
Ubisoft then took to the stage to reveal more information on Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. From the new female Assassin Evie, to the stellar sounding voice acting, this game may pique my interest in the series once more. PS4 owners get the Dreadful Crimes DLC exclusively.
SquareEnix revealed their new Final Fantasy canon "World of Final Fantasy," a cute looking adventure game that doesn't look all that bad. SquareEnix didn't say to much else on World of Final Fantasy, aside from that it is a PS4/Vita exclusive.
After this, SquareEnix shocked everyone with the coup de gras that killed every other press conference for the rest of the week. Final Fantasy 7 VII is getting the much needed, much anticipated remake it deserves, and IT LOOKS GORGEOUS!! It proves that being patient sometimes pays off, as fans have been asking for this remake for years, almost a decade actually, since i believe the intro seen from FF7 got remade for the PS3 reveal at E3 2005. I just about started jumping around the house when I saw this. Last I'd heard, the PC port that was originally coming o PS4 this spring will actually be released in the winter, and the remake is getting released in 2017, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the original release. Bring on those collector's editions.
Following my excitement from SquareEnix's turn on stage, Devolver Games came out with 4 games making their way to PlayStation 4; Ronin, Eitr, Mother Russia Bleeds and Crossing Souls. Aside from that, Devolver didn't have much to say. Stay tuned for more on these titles later.
Another game that is getting all the recognition it deserves is Yu Suzuki's upcoming title, Shenmue 3. Yes, I said it, SHENMUE 3. The kickstarter funded/Sony backed title is going to close out the trilogy that is Shenmue. I'm very much excited to see what it has in store for players. Maybe we will get Shenmue and Shenmue 2 as well. As of right now (09:34 PM on Tuesay, June 16) the game has over 2.8 million dollars behind it. Shenmue 3 hasn't even been on Kickstarter for more than 24 hours. It still has 31 days to go. Oh my lawd.
Batman: Arkham Knight's developer Rocksteady Games took the stage with a relatively dark, twisted (even for Batman) trailer for the DLC Scarecrow's Nightmare Missions. Not much else was showed for Arkham Knight, but you won't have to wait long to play it, as it comes out next Tuesday.
Things started slowing down as Sony started talking about Project Morpheus. As my favorite console company, I'm trying to have faith in this piece of hardware, but it's hard to get a feel for something when you talk about it for only 2.5 minutes. Sony did reveal a game called Rigs, which is a 3v3 battle arena game that was called "E-Sports, Morpheus style." After that, Morpheus was casually tucked back into Sony's back pocket.
In other news, PlayStation's TV streaming service Vue is now available in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Woot...bring it to Indiana please?
Activision has replaced Microsoft for their Call of Duty bed partner with Sony, and they had Black Ops 3 gameplay footage and exclusives to prove it. Think of Microsoft's long standing deal with Activision, just now with Sony. Activision showed off new features in Black Ops 3, like 4 player campaign mode and the ability to play the game "how you want to." It's Call of Duty, just new and shiny. Moving on...
YOU'RE GONNA NEED A MONTAGE (MONTAGE!) <--watch the conference
Disney Infinity 3.0 adds Star Wars support, further making me want to play this game. Two sets were revealed, Twilight of the Republic for episodes 1-3 and Rise Against the Empire for episodes 4-6. Battlefront also made an appearance, making me drool just a bit. God I can't wait to play this game. November 17th can't come soon enough. Actually it can, I'll be playing Fallout.
Rounding out Sony's press conference was new and improved (sorta, damn controller) Uncharted 4: A Thief's End gameplay footage. Boy, did it look chaotic. Seeing Sully and Nathan on the screen together again made me smile, and the shenanigans were following closely behind. Running down the hill in an SUV trying to escape the APC shooting at you brought out all the explosions and wood splintering and tests of the physics engine you could possibly want in a demo. However, all that aside, I was definitely more impressed and intrigued after the original reveal at PlayStation Experience last year. Uncharted is set to release next year.
Kudos to Sony for listening to what the fans want. I was thoroughly impressed with what Sony and their partners who shared the stage with them had to show. I seriously can't wait for most of these to be released. I wish they'd have shown more Vita, but beggars can't be choosers. Final Fantasy VII looks outstanding, and I can't wait to sink my teeth into that. Until next year, this was your Old Sword Games synopsis of Sony's E3 press conference.